It’s always fun to get mail, especially packages, and bonus if you’re not expecting it for some reason.
That fun can quickly turn strange, or confusing, or even frightening, though, depending on what’s in the box and who might have sent it – and these 12 people definitely got some out-of-the-box (heh) surprises.
12. It’s probably something like that.
Not me but my roommate. It wasn’t the item so much as the source and circumstances. She had a pair of shoes delivered to her that she didn’t order, from china, with no shipping info on it. Her account was not accessed, the shoes were not in her size, no one she knows claims to have sent it.
Mysterious. Random shoes, no info, just her address and name. I think she got a few other things too, like a backpack was one thing, then it stopped.
Personally I still think maybe illegal activity was attempted by someone, and maybe just didn’t work out quite right. Either that or maybe her info has been saved for future use maybe, something like that.
11. Just enjoy your expensive trash bags, ma’am.
Strangest thing… hmm.. probably the giant industrial sized trash bags. It was my address on the shipping label but the name was WER WERWER. Yea weird.
I live in the middle of nowhere and I don’t know anyone who’d send me ($70!!) trash bags. I definitely didn’t buy them. Lol But spent a good hour looking through all my card statements.
I then looked up the company and emailed them. They couldn’t tell me who bought them but did give me the last four digits on the card used. That gave me reassurance it wasn’t any of mine. They basically told me I could keep them. No one was disputing the purchase except me. Haha
I still have no idea who sent those damn trash bags and still have them to this day. 🤷🏻♀️
10. Surely she kept one though.
It was weird. There was a box in front of my door with no shipping label on it. It looked like something had been there once and was torn off. There was some marker scribble on the side with the building’s address but not my name or unit. It was filled with 16 granny type housecoats of the same pattern.
This happened before our little building had security cameras. There was no packing slip. Where did this come from and why me? I was just starting out and called the one card I had to check on any fraudulent charges. Nothing. I held on to it for months, hoping someone would come for it.
I spoke to my neighbors about it but no one knew anything or cared. I ended up donating it.
9. I want to know how large VERY large is now.
The strangest thing delivered to my house that I did not order was a VERY large bra (that did not fit me) and swim goggles (I don’t swim). We donated both to Goodwill.
But, for a couple of years we also got birthday and/or Christmas Amazon gift cards for a man with a very common name (like Bob Miller). Google was no help—there were dozens of people with his name in any given area.
I’d call up Amazon knowing they couldn’t do anything to help and would just tell us to keep the cards, but felt awful not being able to let the dad (similar common name) know that his son not only didn’t receive the packages, but as far as we could tell, had never lived at our address, since we knew who two of the prior owners were besides ourselves.
8. Sure, sure he didn’t order it.
A 13 inch d#ldo.
This one is my dads I was a 13 year old male at the time
One day he came home with an open box and would not tell me we what was in it I kept asking him what it was he still said no, later I heard him and my mom talking and he said he did not order it at this point I still did not know what is was so after my parents went to bed I looked into his work bag and saw a 13 inch d#ldo.
7. What…was the point of all that?
A couple of years ago I got a call from our credit card company about unusual activity on our card. It was an online purchase from a store specializing in items for children. My children are grown and I don’t yet have grandkids. I told them it was not me, they cancelled the charges and issued me a new card. I didn’t think much more about it.
A week later 17 boxes were left on our front porch by UPS (my husband and I were both at work when they were delivered). Turns out these were the items purchased by the thief, who had them shipped to our address. Seventeen boxes of toddler sized furniture. My husband then had to load them all into his truck, haul them back to UPS, and then refuse the shipment.
Thief obviously wasn’t the sharpest.
6. It’s hard doing the right thing I guess.
A large coil of 2x 24 core telecoms cable.
We were expecting a suitcase….
We had had our luggage miss a flight on the way back from a wedding, and the airport said it was on the next flight, and they’d send it to us.
My bag turned up a few days later, along with a coil of cable. Somewhere in the depot, the suitcase had lost the right label, and someone had stuck it on this coil of cable.
Six weeks of complaining later, and chasing, and basically doing everyone’s job for them, we got back the suitcase, that still had the the permanently fixed address label on it that nobody had bothered to read.
5. This definitely qualifies as weird.
This week, while checking my credit card activity online, I saw an unauthorized charge for over $600 from a medical supply company. I immediately called my credit card company and got the charge reversed and a new credit card number issued.
Well yesterday, the mail room of my high rise apartment building called and told me that I had a large box that was delivered. My husband had to haul the box to our apartment with a dolly. Lo and behold it was a “family 5 pack” of CPR Mannequin dummies!
Needless to say, I called the company and they promptly emailed me a return label. The next day, I got another delivery, from a different company, another set.
4. Something is rotten in Denmark.
I got a $20,000 airplane part.
UPS had some other stuff that was mine, we were playing who gets what.
This was not my house, it was a server farm where I rented racks.
I show up one night and they have the airplane part, labeled for me, from Germany.
I think it had been remanufactured, it did not look new.
About 10 days later, UPS contacts me and asked if I had the package. They came by and got it. Never heard another word.
I knew UPS would want it back. I did not have a good way to contact whoever had dropped it off. I just held it and waited patiently.
Best of luck.
3. You think they would order something less conspicuous?
Actually the delivery guy, not the recipient.
I used to deliver groceries and we got an order through for ten bags of frozen prawns.
To the guy whose house the order was sent to, this was probably pretty strange, as he’d certainly not ordered them.
The confusing thing for him was that this happened twelve more times. I checked the card details for all the separate orders, only to find a different card every single time.
We deduced that someone living nearby was ordering on the (no doubt stolen) card to test it. Then, if they saw us turning up, they knew the card was still active and could probably go ahead and try to hammer it before the card holder got wise and cancelled it.
2. When life hands you apricots.
About 20 years ago, I found a package delivered by UPS. It was between my two back doors. It was from my next door neighbor, who I really hated, intended for the people who used to live in our house.
The next door neighbor and the previous occupants were good friends. After about one second of hesitation, I opened the package. It was dried apricots. I love dried apricots. I sort of hit two birds with one stone, I screwed over my neighbor and I got a delicious treat.
(For those of you who think I’m a terrible person, trust me, she deserved it. She put my whole family through hell. But that’s for another answer).
1. My husband would be seriously delighted.
A machete. I have never figured this out. This was about six years ago – came home and there was an Amazon package waiting for me, addressed to me. Not at all unusual, I buy tons of stuff on a Amazon.
Took it in the bedroom, opened it up, and it was a machete – a real one. I’m thinking this is a funny error, someone picked the wrong item, but the invoice is also for a machete.
I check my Amazon account, I have not accidentally ordered a machete, and have no pending deliveries. Have never figured it out, I think it is still under my bed.
I don’t know how I could have reacted to these, but I guess it would depend on the situation.
Has anything like this ever landed on your porch? If so, tell us how you handled it in the comments!
